06/03/04

The questions posed by Mr Woodrow are relevant to England and there should be no input from Scottish MPs or their ilk on an English issue.

Scotland has a Parliament. Wales has an Assembly. Northern Ireland, soon I hope, will have a working Assembly too.

In England, regionalism is growing as never before, calling into question, as it happens, the idea of England itself. This is what regional assemblies are really about.

I wonder what response an English MP would have got, if he'd called into question the very idea of Scotland. - K Young, Darlington.

IT is very noticeable that those with their snouts already firmly in the trough are shouting loudest about regional government.

I don't see 20 Richard Bransons chomping at the bit to serve the region. No, it'll be promotions all round for the very people who already can't secure the correct budgets. Half of them couldn't run a domino handicap with any level of proficiency, so why on earth would I wish to see them promoted and rewarded?

You would trust pure corner-enders to deal with matters that in reality can only be sorted in Westminster. As already proven, if Nissan or any other big firm, for example, want government aid, then whom would they ask, a bunch of promoted councillors or the Prime Minister?

How can they promote regional government to be more local than district authorities? Simply make the local option more accountable.

South Teesside is already mumbling about having to return to Yorkshire. So, where does that leave them, North-East Assembly or Yorkshire?

Anyone who does well in this region does so through hard work, not and never via the backward politics meted out by those with most to gain for doing very little. - Jim Tague, Bishop Auckland Conservatives.

ONE of the great myths of the anti-Europeans is that the Government's plans for regional assemblies are something to do with a Brussels-based plot.

Of course, they are nothing of the sort. Arguments about regional government have raged in Britain since the 19th century. Serious regionalisation of government policy began in the 1960s, well before we entered the then-EEC.

The arguments about whether we have regional government are complex - many different views will be heard and, of course, regional assemblies - which were proposed in the Government's manifestos at both the 1997 and 2001 general elections - will only be established if the people vote for them in a referendum.

What cannot be allowed is gross inaccuracies and distortions from the obsessives within the anti-European camp to dictate that this is some sort of foreign plot. People are perfectly entitled to object to regional government, what they cannot be allowed to do is tell lies about why we are having the debate. - David Abrahams, Gosforth.

BINGE DRINKING

ANYBODY who watched the recent TV programme on 'binge drinking' in Middlesbrough and other locations around the UK must be horrified at the scenes they witnessed.

Drunken, abusive, violent, foul-mouthed men and women now overwhelm the limited police resources in all areas every weekend. Surely, this problem needs the urgent attention of central government because it is horrifyingly obvious that the problem is out of control and beyond the best efforts of our police forces to contain.

No more licences should be issued to any new pubs and clubs and there should be a systematic closing down of every establishment which is deemed to be a source of trouble.

Owners of these licensed premises must be making fortunes and yet they are encouraging drunkenness and violence which has a direct impact on communities and families. Early morning streets are littered with the remains of food, vomit and blood. All signs of 'a good night out'!

It is time that the politicians stopped the mayhem and ordinary, decent people enjoyed the resulting 'happy hour'. - D Brearley, Middlesbrough.

HOMELESSNESS

ACCORDING to the charity group Shelter, more than two million people in England are either homeless or live in unfit rented accommodation.

I consider it a frightening statistic, considering that when Dickens wrote Oliver Twist there were fewer people in dire impoverishment. - Aled Jones, Bridlington.

EUROPE

THERE are still many of us who remember the declaration of war when Hitler ordered the invasion of Poland in 1939.

The disruption to family life often permanently causes us to seek to sustain the European Union that has given us peace in Western Europe for the longest period of time in history.

It is only 15 years since the military threat of the totalitarian states of Eastern Europe was removed. These states took regard of the stability that the EU has brought about and as trade and other interactions grew it is not surprising that they should want to join. We should welcome the spread of prosperity as the new members seek to cement peace, democracy and freedom across the continent and celebrate the foreign policy of the EU that enabled it to be achieved.

Scare stories abound as the day approaches when the new states join. Those who predict that there will be a flood of immigrants should look at past situations. The predicted flood of immigrants from Spain and Portugal was marginally in reverse.

More people went back to those countries than came into the UK. The vast majority of people do not want to uproot themselves from their established society. The Home Office predicts that only 13,000 people are likely to seek work in Britain in the first few years of enlargement. These people are expected to fill vacancies that we currently cannot fill.

The new EU members have demonstrated constructive thinking about the issues concerning the Union, thinking that is not far removed from our own. They are committed to the Atlantic alliance as well as to Europe and they favour an EU driven by nation states.

It is estimated that Britain will benefit from increased trade by about £1.5bn as a result of enlargement. This figure more than offsets any additional costs to us that come as a result of economic reforms that are needed.

The enlargement of the Union gives good cause for celebration at a time when good news seems to be in short supply. - Bill Morehead, Darlington.